Nichimen Graphics Launches Much Anticipated Mirai

Nichimen Graphics Launches Much Anticipated Mirai™ Animation System

New Software Tools to Redefine 3D Animation Industry Standards.

LOS ANGELES, – Nichimen Graphics, a leading provider of cutting-edge technology to the 3D interactive content market, formally launched its heavily anticipated 3D animation package, Mirai, a suite of powerful software development tools that delivers new levels of performance, versatility and usability previously unavailable in a single product.

Targeted primarily towards game developers and high-end character animators, Mirai, which means "prosperous future" in Japanese, is the next evolution of Nichimen’s N-World suite of real-time content creation tools, widely considered the real-time industry’s most powerful content creation package – having long been used by industry leading game developers including Sony, Square, Electronic Arts, Acclaim and Nintendo. Mirai is also suited perfectly for other applications including film and video, visual simulation and web-based content creation.

"With 3D animation and graphics impacting an increasing cross-section of industries, it is clear that the software development tools used to create these media are no longer restricted to the games industry," said Wanda Meloni, senior analyst at Jon Peddie Associates, a research firm that tracks the trends and companies shaping the 3D interactive content market. "With Mirai, Nichimen Graphics has successfully positioned itself to not only increase its market share among games customers, but to also cross-over into growing areas like film and video and visual simulation."

More Than 10 Years in the Making
Mirai represents over a decade of committed, ongoing development that has resulted in the deepest, most integrated and most comprehensive animation system available today. It is a full-featured system incorporating the following key components:

Subdivision surface modeling
2D and 3D paint
Skeletal modeling
True 3D inverse kinematics
Bio-mechanical motion editing
A channel-based non-linear motion editing system
Particles and physical simulation
Photo-realistic rendering

Connectivity is another key advantage. Mirai delivers full support for the Game Exchange 2 standards for ASCII data export and conversion.

Bay Raitt, Mirai product manager at Nichimen, said, "Mirai’s depth and workflow provide users unmatched ease-of-use. With Mirai, users finally have the chance to freely explore and experiment with their work without the technical headaches that are all too common in this industry. Nichimen has, in effect, created a pain-free system for content creators."

The New Animation "Model"
Mirai represents an entirely new paradigm, essentially resembling a fully functional "3D operating system." The software makes it possible to control object visibility and sensitivity on a per editor basis, enabling users to work on different objects in multiple editors simultaneously. Animators will actually have the ability to open multiple animation editors and run separate scripts at the same time – making it possible to work on numerous motions of a scene at the same time.

Mirai’s dynamically linked 2D and 3D editors encourage artists to expand their capabilities from traditional linear workflow, making it possible to work on any portion of an animation at any time. Users will be able to change topology, texture coordinates and skeleton topology effortlessly during or even after the final animation has been created.

Building Animation – A New Paradigm
Mirai’s animation system is the industry’s most advanced set of tools available to animators today. Standard object keyframing and morphing are built into a non-linear motion editor, utilizing operation channels to control all aspects of a scene.

"Mirai’s skeletal IK system is truly revolutionary," said Kazuyuki Hashimoto, vice president, R&D, Square USA. "It is clearly at least one full generation ahead of any other animation package, and undoubtedly reflects the tremendous commitment Nichimen’s development team brings to the industry."

In addition, advanced skeletal inverse kinematics and integrated biomechanical motion editing work seamlessly with the non-linear interface to "build" animation sequences in layers, much like a 2D artist would build an image in Photoshop™.

Mirai’s sophisticated skeletal system is by far the most advanced in the industry. Skeletons objects are automatically enabled for IK movement, even as they are being built. Constraint creation is accomplished with only a couple of clicks and IK algorithms allow for natural human movement. Mirai skeletons also support a knowledge system which allows poses to be saved directly on the object, separating movement from time and allowing for poses to be added together to create gestures. Or, allowing any skeletal pose to be captured on the skeleton and broken down into its most finite elements.

Mirai’s fully integrated biomechanical motion editing tools make it possible to seamlessly blend motions, create looping cycles and scale between different sized characters. The tools work with standard motion capture files as well as keyframe animation. Created by the same development team (Testarossa) who provided motion editing for many Electronic Arts sports titles including Madden 99™ and Knockout Kings™, Mirai’s motion editing greatly simplifies the creation of in-game cycles and transitions.

"Game developers who create character-based games spend a majority of their production time on animation, be it motion captured or IK," said Brendan Kavanagh, Nichimen’s senior marketing manager. "Mirai will greatly improve productivity by making IK animation more viable, providing biomechanical motion editing and allowing artists to "build" animations with complete freedom. We’ve provided a system that will stand up to the test as studios continue to develop for the next generation of game consoles."

Pricing & Availability
Mirai is scheduled to ship in March with an estimated MSRP of $6495.00. The package comes with complete online documentation and texture library, as well as a motion capture library from Los Angeles-based House of Moves. Nichimen also offers its customers long-term technical support contracts.

About Nichimen
Nichimen Graphics, Inc. is a leading supplier of 3D graphics software for game development and interactive entertainment. Its software has been used to produce such hit games as Super Mario 64 by Nintendo, Final Fantasy VII by Square Co., Ltd., and MediEvil by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe -Cambridge Studios.

Nichimen Graphics focuses its efforts on supporting the interactive content market, providing developers with the industry's most open system and leading-edge modeling and animation technology with unparalleled customer support. The company's suite of packages is truly integrated, dramatically simplifying game content generation. Nichimen Graphics Inc. is owned by Nichimen Corporation of Japan, a $62.5 billion trading company.

Web Site: http://www.nichimen.com